Enterprises regularly require users to change their passwords or other credentials in order to log-in to applications or receive email or other services. Since this requirement is imposed quarterly, monthly, weekly, etc., users often forget their passwords/credentials. To assist the users, the prior art presents authentication questions that, when answered correctly, give the user hints about their passwords/credentials. They then use the hints to reconstruct the passwords/credentials in order to log-in. This authentication process, however, is deployed in such a way that the enterprise's system becomes vulnerable to rogue antics.
For example, web browsers are launched from privileged processes during log-in (e.g., launched from Winlogon) that ferry users to web servers for Q/A authentication sessions. In the event the servers are hacked, infected or otherwise compromised, the enterprise receives unnecessary exposure in the form of viruses, keystroke-logging programs, trojans, malware, etc. that naturally or consequentially infect enterprise services, systems, applications, etc., with malicious or other extraneous code. Intuitively, this represents a security compromise and should be eliminated, if possible.
Accordingly, there is need in the art of web browsers and system log-in technology to minimize enterprise vulnerability. In that many computing configurations already have web browsers and log-in software, it is further desirable in the art to leverage existing configurations by way of retrofit technology, thereby avoiding the costs of providing wholly new products. Taking advantage of existing frameworks, such as web browsers known by the names Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, or Netscape Navigator, or log-in technology, such as the Novell Identity Manager (v. 3.5) software offering by Novell, Inc., or the Windows brand Winlogon, are other features that optimize existing resources. Any improvements along such lines should further contemplate good engineering practices, such as automation, relative inexpensiveness, stability, ease of implementation, high security, low complexity, flexibility, etc.